Cherry Lemonade Biscotti

by Lisa on February 9, 2009

I started making Biscotti over the holidays because I found a recipe I liked, and I really love a tasty cookie along with my coffee in the morning. Between all the holiday parties and family functions we attended, I’ve tried a bunch of different recipes since – I find that this one has a great taste and texture without huge amounts of fat. It is modified from a Cooking Light recipe for plain lemon biscotti - my main modification includes adding dried cherries, which I personally like the best, but I have tried this recipe using chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and toasted walnuts as well. They supposedly freeze well (after baking but before the glazing step!) but I’ve never had enough left to try to freeze them.

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon grated lemon rind

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided

1 tablespoon lemon extract

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

3 large eggs

3/4 cup dried cherries (or cranberries, walnuts, chocolate chips)

Cooking spray

2/3 cup powdered sugar

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350?.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl. Combine rind, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, extract, oil, and eggs, and add to flour mixture, stirring until well-blended (dough will be dry and crumbly). Mix cherries into the dough until well incorporated. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly 7 to 8 times. Divide dough in half. Shape each portion into an 8-inch-long roll. Place rolls 6 inches apart on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; flatten each roll to 1-inch thickness.

Bake at 350? for 30 minutes. Remove the rolls from baking sheet; cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Cut each roll diagonally into 15 (1/2-inch) slices with a serrated knife using very little pressure so the cookies don’t crumble!

Place the slices, cut sides down, on baking sheet. Reduce oven temperature to 325?; bake for 10 minutes. Turn cookies over; bake an additional 10 minutes (the cookies will be slightly soft in center but will harden as they cool). Remove from baking sheet, and cool completely on wire rack.

Combine 1 tablespoon lemon juice and powdered sugar, and drizzle over the biscotti.